In a federal lawsuit filed against GTCR, Universal American says Rauner’s firm essentially sold it a $222.3 million lemon after APS and GTCR executives engaged in a “deliberate campaign to conceal the truth.”

Without admitting wrongdoing, APS [which was owned by Rauner’s company from 2007 until 2012] agreed to pay $13 million to settle allegations from the federal government and the state of Georgia in 2011.

The feds said the firm “failed to provide the required services to a large portion of the Medicaid recipients and over-billed the Georgia Department of Community Health.” This allegedly occurred from 2007 until 2010.

“APS Healthcare took Medicaid’s money for itself and left some of our most vulnerable citizens without the aid they deserved,” Sally Quillian Yates, the U.S. attorney for Georgia’s northern district, said at the time the settlement was announced.

Ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch.

* And the Quinn campaign followed up early this morning with a press release containing “Additional examples of fraud”…

Lason

“If his (political) narrative is ‘I’m a hands-on manager,’ this is not a firm where you would want to say that,” said Peter J. Henning, an expert on securities fraud and white collar crime. “If he was hands-on, he certainly might have gotten his fingers dirty. Henning said Lason might be recalled as “one of the worst accounting frauds ever” had it not been upstaged by similar scandals at much bigger companies — Enron and WorldCom.” (Chicago Tribune, 1/20/14) In an August 1999 interview with The Wall Street Transcript, a subscription newsletter that features interviews with business leaders, Rauner hailed Lason as a “great company … doing quite well,” and went on to describe an ownership philosophy at GTCR steeped in the kind of hands-on involvement he now vows to bring to the governor’s office if elected. “We spend a lot of time living with our companies on a week-to-week basis, understanding what’s going on, and being in the flow of information, so we can be helpful and knowledgeable about the operation,” Rauner said. (Chicago Tribune, 1/20/14)

Acartha

In 2004, Mr. Rauner made a personal $4.5 million startup investment in fund manager Acartha Group LLC, a suburban St. Louis firm founded by Burton Douglas Morriss. Before Acartha, Mr. Morriss had already arranged one deal in which the duo made more than $75 million. Mr. Rauner, an avid outdoorsman, also owned a hunting camp with Mr. Morriss. But in 2012, the SEC seized control of Acartha, accusing Mr. Morriss of defrauding investors of $9.1 million. Mr. Rauner was a “passive investor” who was “misled and defrauded” by Mr. Morriss, like dozens of others, Mike Schrimpf, a spokesman for Mr. Rauner’s campaign, says in an email. “Bruce is angered and outraged by Morriss’ actions.” […](“Rauner backed firm later shut down for fraud,” Crain’s Chicago Business, 2/24/14) To acquire his stake in Acartha, Mr. Rauner traded his interests in Hela and another Morriss venture, for which he paid $2.5 million, and paid an additional $2 million in cash. The two men along with two others also owned a hunting lodge and farm in Canada. […](“Rauner backed firm later shut down for fraud,” Crain’s Chicago Business, 2/24/14)

In a 2005 interview with the St. Louis Business Journal, Morriss said that two of his partners in the Acartha Group included New York financier Nicolas Rohatyn and Bruce Rauner, who operates a Chicago-based private equity firm. They did not return phone calls Tuesday. Morriss served as chairman of the board…”Morriss lived a lavish lifestyle, living in a multi-million dollar home, driving luxury automobiles, leasing a private airplane and helicopter, and taking expensive vacations,” the SEC complaint states. (“SEC accuses Clayton-based financier of defrauding investors,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 1/18/12)

“Bust Out” Nursing Home scheme

According to a U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge in Florida on March 14, Rauner can’t walk away from being at the helm of an elaborate “bust out” plan to avoid culpability for purchases and practices of a string of nursing homes.

“Bruce is not involved with this, and it is best to let GTCR’s motions speak for themselves,” —-Rauner spokesman Mike Schrimpf said Tuesday. “Bruce was never on the board at APS, did not put together the deal and played no role in the management of the company.”–

How do you continue to run as a “hands-on businessman” while claiming you had absolutely no responsibility or accountability for your companies?

Those words are haunting when I think about all this and Bruce Rauner , and how he has lived his life, and how “Bruce Rauner” wants to be seen, irregardless if it glued in the face of a Carhartt and a watch.

So let me get this right, you buy a company for $222 million and there are issues so you are suing?

That’s some great due diligence dude… I get the nursing home stuff, but this? If you are spending $222 million for something, you kind of fall under the sophisticated investor argument and it is buyer beware…

Also the Bankrupcy Court can go after the seller in situations like this and has from what I understand. If it is that bad of shape, why not do that?

Claims by consumers against companies like APS are filed by plaintiffs’ lawyers. Plaintiffs’ lawyers are some of the most robust campaign contributors to liberal democrats. Pat Quinn is a liberal Democrat and as received his fair share of campaign contributions from plaintiffs’ lawyers.

My point really is that nursing home and geriatric care negligence have been endemic in this country for decades. You can’t lay the problem at Rauner’s feet. I think most voters will figure that out come November.

‘We spend a lot of time living with our companies,..understanding what’s going on, and being in the flow of information, so we can be helpful and knowledgeable about the operation,” Rauner said. (Chicago Tribune, 1/20/14)

‘Mr. Rauner was a “passive investor” who was “misled and defrauded”.’

Is consistency or convenience the best way to run a business like a business?

@Conservative Republican - So Rauner’s just a local practitioner of the much larger problem of “geriatric care negligence” then, right? Rauner, the hands-on manager, who is running for Illinois governor on the Republican ticket, and denies having any knowledge of what was happening, right?

It is what it is. Expect more of it as we go along. As it’s not “unfair” to closely inspect every public official’s records, votes, policies, it’s not “unfair” to look at every business transaction conducted over a lifetime either. Two guys this age will have lengthy lists to compare and contrast. All the additional ‘interpretation’ will be provided, don’t you worry about that at all.

Plaintiffs’ lawyers are some of the most robust campaign contributors to liberal democrats. Pat —-Quinn is a liberal Democrat and as received his fair share of campaign contributions from plaintiffs’ lawyers.

Connect the dots.–

I connected the dots and got ” Behghazi.” Is that the right conspiracy?

Conservative Republican -
“Claims by consumers against companies like APS are filed by plaintiffs’ lawyers.”

Seriously? From the Sun-Times article: “’APS Healthcare took Medicaid’s money for itself and left some of our most vulnerable citizens without the aid they deserved,’ Sally Quillian Yates, the U.S. attorney for Georgia’s northern district, said at the time the settlement was announced.”
So in this case the “plaintiff” was the U.S. Department of Justice, and Rauner’s company paid $13 million to settle claims of Medicaid fraud. And here I thought conservative Republicans were all about going after things like Medicaid fraud. It looks like you need to call up the campaign and ask for a new talking point.

O.K. That makes it 5 for 5 on Shakey Mitt Rauner outfits that are kinky.
Perhaps Mr. Shrimp could give us a quick list of any of the 400 outfits Shakey likes to boast about that have been found clean by the own oppo research. At this rate we will need to report about 3 a day to get a full understanding of Shakey’s biz prowess.
BTW there is still time for someone to hop a flight to Duluth to chat with Stu about how well he and Shakey know each other.

Looks like whoever did the oppo on Bruce for “Bruce” neglected to think of responses to these … issues … that make reasonable sense.

Or, they are indefensible, so the Sgt. Schultz routine is all ya got?

The Mob-Style “Bust-Out” makes more and more sense to me.

Anyone who says…

===“I want to get to know every legislator on a first name basis. I want to get to know them, their families, their hopes, their dreams, their fears, their weaknesses, their vulnerabilities. I want to get to know them well.”===

Tom Hagen; busts out business, wants to know how to bust a 1/3 of Illinois government too.

Super impressed at what Rauner has been able to accomplish. He’s converting name brand democrats into believers! Sounds like UNO’s former patronage boss- Juan Rangel is now joining the Chicago Young Republicans. That is great news! Well done.

Public… I am no Raunerite I hate to break it to you… In fears of your head exploding, I will say this. When you buy and sell companies you being hands on that part of the process and have no real idea other than the asset and making the right deal… That was his business. I know you don’t like it. I don’t even. But to cheer as if he was walking around these places counting nickels and withholding meds… Our current Governor has plenty to answer for with public money… These will come out again about Rauner… It’s almost already “background noise” …. The more they trickle…The less a 30 second spot to explain it… The more meaningless they will become… 30 seconds about the current Governor and scandals…easy peasy…

Public… By the way…As CEO of Illinois let’s hear about all of the DCFS cuts that lead to child abuse? Any state prisons have issues? It’s not as comfortable when you look at both sides…But I at least always try…

One might not like the business decisions of Romney-directed BC and one might not like the profit above people values present at BC when it was directed by Romney, but one point in their favor is that at least they were operating legally, not leaving a massive string of out and out fraud in their wake.

==As someone asked in a previous post, “who is the green candidate for governor?”==

What exactly did Rauner do at GTCR to earn all of that money? Just wondering because whenever he gets a question about something that happened while he was chairman of the firm he seems to have been out sick that day or something.

Here’s the conundrum. Rauner was a salesman, a dealmaker, not an analyst like Romney.

It is likely why he has earned so much praise for his campaigning ability. Stick to the sales pitch, smile, be likable.

Unfortunately, although Rauner has been the private sector equivalent of a career politician his entire life, some folks — editorial boards mostly — think that a candidate for governor ought to actually be able to run the state.

So, Rauner did what most salesmen sometimes do: he oversold it a teensy bit. Okay, a lot. I’ll bet Rauner had no clue what 99% of the businesses in their portfolio were doing on any given day, which is exactly what his lawyer would tell him to say.

Bad “Optics” to say the least, but for both campaigns’ sake, and to keep the hyperbole to a dull roar…

…It really bothers me getting ahead of investigations. There is a grand jury, the US Attorney has a report, even Rauner has some questionable legal outcomes to hammer, but the speculation, that is a road others can travel…

It’s just another day in nuclear campaigning. Have to wait for the smoke to clear to see who’s house is left standing. It is important to keep an eye on who is investigating who here. One is a response saying Don’t look at me, look at what this guy did”. Might focus on him for a while.

You do quite well stating the Rauner can’t make a case that he is hands-on, but not hands-on regarding this situation, but you are so unbelievably blind when Quinn claims he is a reformer, yet acts shocked that $54,000,000 he granted to the South Side is mishandled, or when Pat doesn’t seem to have found the ability of reforming the governor’s office of so many Blagojevich people. Then Mr. Reformer is failing to handle IDOT hirings according to the law…but he still claims to be a reformer!

Open your eyes and see both candidates in their horrible richness of their bloviating magnificence! Stop sparing Quinn of what you are serving up on Rauner. They both deserve the same.